Seattle - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 138

City Walk
Historical Pioneer Square Circuit
Start/end King Street Station
Length 1 mile; one hour
Start off at King Street Station ( Click here ), recently returned to its opulent
'gilded age' glory. Before the advent of the motor car this was most people's first
impression of Seattle. Exiting via the side door, walk west along King St in the shad-
ow of Safeco Field; the bars and restaurants here are packed with baseball sup-
porters on match days. Turn right onto redbrick 1st Avenue South , little altered
since it rose in the aftermath of the 1889 fire. Galleries and antique shops will catch
your eye, but be sure to descend, as President Obama recently did, to the
Grand Central Baking Co ( Click here ) in the eponymous arcade for cakes and
sandwiches. Further north, the small, triangular Pioneer Square Park ( Click
here ) - usually awash with tourists and local characters selling the newspaperReal
Change- sports an Eiffel-esque iron pergola and the Richardsonian Romanesque
Pioneer Building. Leading east, Yesler Way ( Click here ) holds the dubious dis-
tinction of being the nation's original 'Skid Row'. The ugly appearance of the con-
crete car park on the fork with James St (the site of the old Seattle Hotel) sparked
1960s activists into saving the rest of Pioneer Square from falling to the same fate.
You can divert on the corner with 2nd Ave for a quick glance at the neoclassical
Smith Tower ( Click here ) , erected by LC Smith, a man who built his fortune on
typewriters (Smith-Corona) and guns (Smith & Wesson). Go right on S Washington
St and Occidental Park ( Click here ) , with its ivy-covered edifices, quickly opens
out on your left. Cross Main St into Occidental Sq before heading left on S Jack-
son Street , the western terminus of Seattle's newest streetcar. In the 1890s S
Jackson's stores outfitted prospectors heading for the Klondike, Canada. Fill in
your historical blind spots at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
( Click here ) before pacing one block back to King Street Station.
Pike Place Market & Waterfront
The first stop for many visitors to Seattle, this area of town rewards early birds. It's par-
ticularly important to get to the market early if you want to avoid that cattle-truck feel-
ing. Weekdays and before 10am on weekends are best. The Waterfront is more weather-